Al-Rashīd

al-Rashīd, (died 1672, Marrakech, Mor.), founder (1666) of the reigning ʿAlawī (Filālī) dynasty of Morocco. By force of arms he filled a power vacuum that, with the collapse of the Saʿdī dynasty, had allowed half a century of provincial and religious warfare between rival Sufi (seeSufism) marabouts, or holy men, and the rulers of various sheikhdoms.

In 1664 Mawlāy al-Rashīd succeeded his brother Muḥammad, who for 30 years had tried to carve out a principality in northeastern Morocco. Obtaining funds through the murder of a wealthy Jew, al-Rashīd gathered a force of Arab and Amazigh (Berber) mercenaries ... (100 of 274 words)